"No? Not even the idea that, in knowing how to kill people, you discourage them from trying to kill you first? In my experience, peace is best achieved through the understanding that war would be too costly to pursue. And, therefore, a society that cherishes peace but remembers war would be well served to keep that memory well-exercised, just in case. I don't like war—it's too destructive for my taste—but I would hesitate for a long time before giving up all my knowledge of it, in case one day that knowledge turned out to be needed."

"It's not the practical considerations I don't understand, it's the attitude," she says, "but at that point I guess it's not something that needs to be hashed out for worldbuilding. I already know I'm different."

"Hmm." She tilts her head consideringly. "Have you never played games that referenced things that scared or upset you, but in a safer context? I remember when I was a child, one of my favourite games was Ambush, where one child would pretend to be a monster, and the others would try to avoid the monster, and the monster would spring from cover and pretend to devour them."

"No? I played with my mama and my brother. We played chasing and hiding games but they weren't about scary things. Maybe it's because the only things around that scared us were actually dangerous."

"Our games were usually about things that were actually dangerous to encounter for real. I wonder if that's a difference between your kind of people and mine, or something else?"

"But were you, like, around them all the time. Because the things that were dangerous to us were the other people in our village, and also their dogs. I hid in the house but Wilbur went out and nobody liked him and dogs tried to attack him. Can our world not have dogs in it?"

"I am happy to omit dogs. And yes, the dangers we played games about were real to us."

"Then...how was it fun?" she asks, bewildered. 

"I'm not sure how to answer that question because I don't think I understand why it wouldn't be!" she says, with a sort of cheerful puzzlement.

"Because when something is horrible then thinking about it more is not fun."

"...hmm. Perhaps it is a difference between our kinds of people after all."

"...Or, possibly, it's just that the ways in which people and dogs are dangerous was harder to, like, practice dealing with, in games that were safe," Lucy muses. 

"That could be so," she agrees.

"Wilbur probably died before I did. I wonder how. Is there any way to find out? Will he get his memories back?"

"By default, everyone you choose to reincarnate alongside you will get their memories back after the plot concludes," says Tabitha.

"Everyone gets all their memories back all at once!?"

"...sorry, I'm not sure I understand the question?"

"Is it the case that there is a designated point, either chronological or triggered after certain events happen, at which point the plot is designated 'finished' and at which point everyone who reincarnated immediately regains all their old memories at once."

"Ah. No. That could be a way to handle memory reintegration but it's not the only way and it's not the default. Usually, people who were closer to the plot regain their memories first, and people who were farther from the plot regain theirs later; most often, people who can be expected to do better if they wake up with all their memories one morning do that, and people who can be expected to do better if they slowly regain their memories piece by piece over a long time do that. How many people are you planning to bring along?"

"I don't want anyone to have to be dead, but...the only people I know are Mama, Wilbur, and Grandpa, plus I sorta know Grandma from Mama and Grandpa's stories. Those four are the ones I need."

"If the number of people you are bringing with you is three or less, you can choose a specific role in the story for each one, like deciding that your mother in the story should be your reincarnated mother; if the number is ten or less, you can choose for each one whether they should have some specific role in the story, or simply appear somewhere in the world where they are not guaranteed to ever meet you, though of course you can search for them as thoroughly as you like; otherwise, it's quite likely that some of the people you bring with you will have roles in the story, but you won't get to choose which ones. I do think that having your mother in the story be your reincarnated mother is very likely even if you don't get to choose it yourself, though."

"What about the rest of them? If I don't choose it, are Grandma and Grandpa still likely to be her parents, Wilbur my brother?" she asks, seriously concerned. 

"I think it is very likely that your Grandma and Grandpa would still be her parents unless the implementation teams couldn't figure out how to make it make sense with the backstory even if they tried, and somewhat likely that Wilbur would still be your brother."

"...I have no one I wish to bring with me from my world," Raivethrani says slowly.

"How likely is 'somewhat likely.'"